UTILIZATION OF SECOND-GROWTH STANDS. 45 



more, and from then on it decreases steadily in rate of production. It 

 appears, therefore, that the greatest production of wood can be secured 

 by cutting second-growth Hemlock when it is about 80 } T ears old. 



However, there are other points which weigh in the consideration 

 of the cutting age. If it is intended to keep the land perpetually in 

 forest, provision must be made for a third crop, and it will not do to cut 

 at a time when natural reproduction is doubtful. Early in the life of 

 an average second-growth Hemlock stand there are many small trees 

 which gradually become shaded out and killed b}^ their more vigorous 

 neighbors. If no cutting is done before the end of eighty years, most 

 of these will have died and rotted, and if everything down to 14 inches 

 is cut there will be few trees left to form part of a third crop. If the 

 cut is made at sixt} r years, there will be a good nucleus left for a third 

 crop, but the cut will be small and the timber inferior. The most 

 profitable plan seems to be to wait a few years longer and to trust to 

 natural seeding if a third crop is desired. At first, because of the 

 dense shade, there is little or no reproduction beneath second-growth 

 Hemlock. However, after about sixty years or more, according- to 

 the density, the Hemlock bears seed and the gradual thinning out of 

 the stand admits sufficient light for the germination and growth of 

 seedlings. If the forest is cut when 80 years old, many of the seed- 

 lings will live, and with those which spring up in the slashing will 

 form sufficient basis for another stand. There will also be many fair- 

 sized trees left standing, some of which, at least, will not be thrown by 

 wind. So far as can be judged at present, the cutting age or rotation 

 of largest } T ield need not be abandoned in order to insure reproduction. 



The rotation of greatest financial profit still remains to be reckoned, 

 for this is not necessarily identical with that of the greatest wood pro- 

 duction. It is determined by the period at which the value of the crop 

 represents the highest interest on the capital invested. Owing to the 

 uncertainty of taxation and of the future value of Hemlock stumpage 

 the calculation can only be tentative. 



The actual sale value of denuded land in the coast counties of Wash- 

 ington can safely be placed at not over $1 an acre, or $160 for a quar- 

 ter section. The land will probably be assessed at about $3 an acre 

 and taxed at 2 cents on the dollar, which is <> cents an acre, or $9.60 

 for the quarter section. 



Were an owner to sell his land for $160 as soon as it was logged, and 

 deposit the money in a savings bank at 3 per cent compound interest, 

 adding annually the sum which he would pay for taxes had he held 

 the land, the total amount to his credit at any given period would 

 represent the cost of holding the land for a second crop during the 

 same time. The calculation of this amount and its comparison with 

 the value of the land and crop is found in Table 16. It illustrates 



